Rosendale officials say NY will probe sunken areas of Route 213

ROSENDALE, N.Y. -- Town Board members this week said the state Department of Transportation plans to look into why there are sunken areas along a half-mile stretch of state Route 213, west of the Rosendale business district.

Town officials said motorists are moving into the opposite lane of the highway to avoid bottoming out.

"For those (drivers) who don't know that they're there, and it's going to hit the smaller cars, they can damn near bottom out," said Councilman Ken Hassett. "But if people do know the holes are there, it's become almost a habit to just swing around them, and ... especially the one by the cave, people tend to go to the left and swing into the other lane as if they own it because 'there's a hole in my lane.'"

Councilman Robert Ryan said the section of road is expected to be closed because conditions are becoming worse.

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"There's been holes that have caved in (with) no explanation," he said.

Town Supervisor Jeanne Walsh said the Department of Transportation has ruled out town water and sewer lines as the source of the sunken pavement, though it initially tried to blame the municipal systems.

"The state has now said they will go in and redo that road, (but) they have to figure out why they have sinking," she said. "They keep filling holes, and they keep coming back."

The affected area includes a highway section that was closed between March and October 2010 when a nearby slope was found to be unstable. Initially, only the eastbound lane had been closed, but within days, both lanes were closed after the problem was determined to be more extensive.

A second phase of work was conducted in July 2011, when the highway section was closed for another month.

Officials noted the highway section runs along a steep hill with several drainage areas and a rocky geology with known caves.

The cause of the sunken areas "could be (groundwater), and a number of people have been (saying) that, since that earthquake (in August 2011), a lot of things seem to have happened, especially in that area as far as the water flow since then," Hassett said.